Ukraine Putschists Like Chile's Pinochet Regime

Ukraine Putschists Like Chile’s Pinochet Regime

by Stephen Lendman

According to Russia’s upper house Federation Council first deputy defense and security committee chairman, Franz Klintsevich, US-installed Kiev putschists are as ruthless as Chile under Pinochet - following the Nixon administration’s 9/11/73 coup, elevating him to power.

Klintsevich called illegal arrests, torture, detentions in secret prisons and disappearances daily occurrences - Ukraine’s security service, its SBU national Gestapo, responsible for what’s happening. 

State terror overrides everything for full control, he explained. Comparison to 17 brutal years under Pinochet is chilling. 

A climate of fear included mass arrests, disappearances, torture and murder. Opposition government officials, academics, union heads, independent journalists, student leaders, activists, and other suspected regime opponents were eliminated.

A story in The Times of London highlighted what’s ongoing, headlined “Kiev allows torture and runs secret jails, says UN.”

It quoted UN assistant secretary-general for human rights Ivan Simonovic, saying Kiev’s “disregard for human rights” is entrenched, systemic, and urgently needs addressing.

His agency documented hundreds of cases of illegal detentions, torture and ill-treatment of detainees, as well as extrajudicial executions and other human rights abuses, exposing the “scale and brutality” of the US-installed regime - crimes against humanity occurring in five secret detention centers.

Simonovic cited a case of a victim seized by “masked men,” believed to be SBU agents. In detention, he was brutalized, tasered multiple times in the head, his left hand, back, knees and head smashed with a hammer.

Forced to confess to being an armed group member to stop the brutal torture, he was taken to state security services and arrested.

Another incident Simonovic described involved chaining an alleged anti-regime rebel group member or sympathizer to a radiator, stifling his ability to breathe with a gas mask, electro-shocking and waterboarding him - while beating and kicking his genitals.

The SBU denied Simonovic access to five secret detention centers. UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture head Malcolm Evans responded, saying:

“This denial of access…meant that we have not been able to visit some places where we have heard numerous and serious allegations that people have been detained and where torture or ill-treatment may have occurred.”

Simonovic also accused Kiev  authorities of failing to investigate the May 2014 massacre of hundreds of defenseless peaceful anti-regime protesters in Odessa’s Trade Union House.

Police stood by and did nothing, letting Right Sector thugs mass-murder unaccountably. A new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights report on Ukraine accused regime authorities “of involvement in or affiliation with (extremist) armed groups.”

Earlier Russian White Book reports documented horrendous Kiev human rights abuses, targeting anyone questioning regime authority along with waging dirty war without mercy on Donbass freedom fighters.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Pentagon Whitewashes Murders of Afghan Civilians

Pentagon Whitewashes Murders of Afghan Civilians

by Stephen Lendman

US rules of engagement in all its war theaters consistently and repeatedly violate international and constitutional law - soldiers allowed to murder civilians with impunity.

One of many notorious examples occurred in February 2010 in Afghanistan. US Army rangers belligerently entered Khataba village in Paktia province - slaughtering five defenseless civilians in cold blood, including two pregnant women threatening no one.

FOIA documents obtained by The Intercept revealed no disciplinary action following the raid. The Defense Department outrageously called force used “necessary, proportional and applied at (the) appropriate time” - while admitting “tactical mistakes” were made, war crimes by any standard.

Absolving crimes of war and against humanity committed by US forces is longstanding Pentagon practice. Falsified accounts whitewash deplorable incidents.

Stories change when evidence refutes initial versions. A Pentagon press release after the February 2010 incident claimed an attack against Taliban militants, US forces “engag(ing)” them in a “fire fight,” then finding three women “bound and gagged…hidden in an adjacent room.”

The incident got widespread media coverage. A US military official claimed bodies found had “the earmarks of a traditional honor killing.”

The account was fabricated. Survivors, witness testimonies and Afghan investigators refuted it, explaining an entirely different version of what happened. According to The Intercept:

“Witnesses and survivors described an unprovoked assault on the family compound of Mohammed Daoud Sharabuddin, a (US-trained) police (commander) who had just received an important promotion. Daoud and his family had gathered to celebrate the naming of a newborn son…”

At about 3:30 AM, family members heard noises outside their compound. Fearing a Taliban attack, Daoud and his 15-year-old son went outside to check - both hit by sniper fire.

In “minutes, a family celebration (became) a massacre,” taking five lives, including three women, two pregnant, reported The Intercept. “Sixteen children lost their mothers.”

Witnesses observed “a horrifying scene: US soldiers digging (their) bullets out of the women’s bodies” with knives - to conceal evidence of their multiple murders.

Documents obtained by The Intercept claimed “(c)oalition (sic) forces take every precaution to ensure non-combatant civilians are protected from possible hostilities during the course of every operation.”

Irrefutable evidence shows otherwise. America wages naked aggression without mercy, civilians considered legitimate targets, comprising the vast majority of casualties.

Millions of corpses attest to America’s depravity. Despite clear evidence of cold-blooded murder in the Daoud compound, the Pentagon claimed its “investigation found no attempt to hide or cover up the circumstances of the local national women’s deaths.”

At the same time, it admitted US forces killed Afghan civilians - after initially saying three women were killed two days before the fire fight with alleged insurgents.

The report recommended US forces “make an appropriate condolence payment to the family as a sign of good faith in our sincerity at the seriousness of the incident.”

Meaningless US “good faith” won’t bring back lost loved ones. In all US war theaters, countless war crimes like the Daoud tragedy repeat - coverup and denial concealing them.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Clinton's Anti-Trump Rant Ignored Her Own High Crimes

Clinton’s Anti-Trump Rant Ignored Her Own High Crimes

by Stephen Lendman

On Thursday, touting her foreign policy record without explaining its lawlessness, Clinton delivered a 30-minute anti-Trump rant - a demagogic litany of misinformation and Big Lies, devoid of substance, more proof of the danger humanity faces if she succeeds Obama next year.

“I’m proud to run on my record,” she said. As first lady, US senator and secretary of state, she was and continues to be militantly pro-war.

In 1999, she urged husband Bill to bomb Belgrade, a flagrant violation of international and constitutional law. 

She lied about Slobodan Milosevic, saying “(y)ou cannot let this go on at the end of a century that has seen the major holocaust of our time. What do we have NATO for if not to defend our way of life?”

The late Nobel laureate Harold Pinter called NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia "barbaric (and despicable), another blatant and brutal assertion of US power, using NATO as its missile (to consolidate) American domination of Europe."

Lawless aggression became humanitarian intervention. An avenue to Eurasia was opened. A permanent US military presence was established. US imperialism claimed another trophy. Clinton’s public record shows the danger of her serving in high office.

Straightaway post-9/11, she urged waging war on terror, a pretext for US war on humanity, saying “I’ll stand behind (George) Bush for a long time to come.”

She supports unlimited military spending, the tyrannical Patriot Act and other police state measures. She endorses cluster munitions and other illegal weapons, opposes banning land mines.

She’s indifferent to human suffering, a monument to wrong over right, ideologically opposite what deserves popular support. Her public persona conceals her extremist views.

As first lady in the 1990s, she called Black youths “super predators (with) no conscience, no empathy.”

She urged the FBI to make “a very concerted effort (to) bring them to heel.” She supported “deporter-in-chief” Obama’s anti-immigrant agenda - deporting undocumented Latinos in record numbers, separating husbands from wives, parents from children.

She advocated racist get tough on crime laws, more police, more prisons, harsher sentences - an agenda directed at Blacks and Latinos “to keep them off the streets…for as long as it takes.”

She supports unrestricted nuclear cooperation with Israel and other US allies, flagrantly violating NPT provisions - endorsing the use of these super-weapons she calls peacekeeping deterrents.

As US senator and presidential candidate twice, she was and remains one of the largest recipients of campaign contributions from Wall Street and war-profiteers.

In the run-up to Bush’s 2003 Iraq war, she lied, saying “intelligence (sic) reports show that Saddam Hussein rebuilt his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program.”

“He has given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members…It is clear that if left unchecked, (he'll) continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”

At AIPAC’s 2008 convention, she said “(t)he United States stands with Israel now and forever,” claiming “our two nations are fighting a shared threat,” an invented one, she failed to explain.

Then and now, she backs “massive retaliation” if Iran attacks Israel - as a 2008 presidential aspirant, saying I “want the Iranians to know that if I'm president, we will attack Iran.” 

“In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.”

She supports preemptive, unilateral use of nuclear weapons, including against non-nuclear states.

She orchestrated the ouster of democratically elected Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, fascist tyranny replacing him. 

In 2010, her attempt to remove Ecuador’s Rafael Correa failed. In 2012, her dirty hands were involved in ousting Paraguay’s democratically elected President Fernando Lugo - what he called “a parliamentary coup against the will of the people.”

She orchestrated US-led NATO aggression on Libya, destroying Africa’s most developed country, transforming it into a failed state - an endless cauldron of violence, chaos and human misery.

She notoriously celebrated Gaddafi’s sodomized murder, infamously saying “(w)e came. We saw. He died” - the rant of a lunatic eager to kill again.

She conspired with Obama and other administration neocons to wage preemptive war on Syria, raging in its sixth year, responsible for the murder of around half a million, mostly civilians, and internally or externally displacing half the population.

In her Thursday address, she called America “an exceptional country.” Its sordid history shows otherwise. 

Her anti-Trump rant ignored her longstanding criminal record, including using the Clinton Foundation as a suspected criminal enterprise, masquerading as an NGO charity, vulnerable to racketeering charges.

Calling Trump “not just unprepared (but) temperamentally unfit” to hold high office ignores the danger of her finger on the nuclear trigger, the threat of WW III with her as president.

Trump fired back, twittering “(c)rooked Hillary no longer has credibility - too much failure in office. People will not allow another four years of incompetence” - adding her performance was “terrible…pathetic.”

Anyone rising to presidential material in America isn’t fit for any public office. The prospect of Clinton or Trump succeeding Obama should scare everyone. 

Neocons infesting Washington exert enormous influence. Four more years of endless wars are certain. Humanity’s fate hangs in the balance.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Assad Wants Humanitarian Aid for All Syrians in Need

Assad Wants Humanitarian Aid For All Syrians in Need

by Stephen Lendman

Assad is overwhelmingly popular, democratically elected in June 2014, a process independent international observers called open, free and fair.

Syrians want no one else leading them for good reason. He gives them hope. Washington and its rogue allies want him ousted, Western-controlled tyranny replacing Syrian sovereignty - the same nightmarish scenario facing all nations America attacks aggressively, its imperial strategy for world conquest and domination.

Half the Syrian population is internally or externally displaced, facing dire conditions. Washington and Britain turned truth on its head, accusing Assad of impeding humanitarian aid deliveries. 

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond willfully lied, saying

he “cynically allowed limited amounts of aid into Darayya and Muadhamiya but…failed to deliver the widespread humanitarian access called for by the international community.”

Bouthaina Shaaban is a distinguished member of Assad’s government, serving as his political and media advisor. On Thursday, she addressed the National Press Club in Washington via satellite from Damascus - discussing her government’s cooperation with UN officials, aiming to deliver humanitarian aid to all Syrians in need.

“About the Syrian government not allowing aid drops, I would like to (say) that these are our people in Syria, and we are trying our best with the UN representative here to find the best way to make all medicine, all food within reach of every single citizen in Syria,” she said.

Claims otherwise are false, part of the US-led effort to demonize Assad, media scoundrels involved, proliferating Western propaganda. 

Shaaban said UN humanitarian officials explained it’s “impossible” to airdrop certain medicines because it’s “costly…very dangerous, and it is not secure.”

“This doesn’t mean we are not trying our very best to make everything (needed) arrive (for) our citizens,” she stressed.

Unlike America and its rogue rogue partners, Russia is involved in delivering humanitarian aid via convoys and airdrops. This week alone, its military delivered 16 tons of food to Hama province.

Russian medics set up a mobile area medical center to provide treatment for Syrians in need. Provincial Governor Hassan Omar Haljaf thanked Moscow for providing humanitarian aid, saying:

“So I once again extend a big thank you to the Russian Federation, the Russian people, and President Vladimir Putin for their support to our country.”

Russia is Syria’s best hope for one day ending Obama’s war - America the main obstacle, responsible for endless conflicts throughout the region and elsewhere to achieve its imperial aims, no matter the cost in human lives and misery.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

German MPs Near-Unanimously Approve Armenian Genocide Resolution

German MPs Near-Unanimously Approve Armenian Genocide Resolution

by Stephen Lendman

On June 2, German parliamentarians officially acknowledged the Ottoman era 1915 - 1922 Armenian genocide, massacring around 1.5 million victims - recognized by 29 nations, including 44 US states, not Washington.

They passed a resolution with one dissenting vote and one abstention, titled “Remembrance and Commemoration of the Genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in the years 1915 and 1916.” It continued until 1922.

Tough resolution language said “(t)he fate of the Armenians is exemplary in the history of mass exterminations, ethnic cleansing, deportations and yes, genocide, which marked the 20th century in such a terrible way.”

As an Ottoman ally during WW I, it acknowledged “partial” German responsibility for what happened.

Turkey refutes an indisputable historic fact. An earlier article explained over 2.5 million Armenians lived in Ottoman Turkey in 2014. 

Today, 75,000 at most remain, mostly in Istanbul and Western areas. The Eastern Armenian heartland was decimated.

In April 1915, hundreds of Armenian religious, political and intellectual leaders were arrested, detained or exiled. Most were systematically murdered.

By summer, about 250,000 Ottoman army Armenians were placed in forced labor battalions. They were over-worked, starved, or executed. 

Without leaders or able-bodied youths, ethnic cleansing occurred throughout Ottoman Turkey and Asia Minor. 

Death marches followed. Men and older boys were separated and executed, women and children force-marched, raped, tortured, and otherwise abused. Most deportees died of starvation, disease, or massacres. 

About 500,000 escaped to Russia, Arab countries, Europe or America. Ottoman Armenia was virtually eliminated. 

Turkey’s denial of cold, hard facts can’t refute one of history’s great crimes - slow-motion genocide against its Kurdish population ongoing under Erdogan.

Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, he warned against passage, saying it would “naturally damage (bilateral) future diplomatic, economic, business and military relations…”

Following passage, prime minister Bilali Yildirim said it will test friendship between both nations, accusing Germany of “divert(ing) attention (from) trouble in domestic policy…”

After France and Austria passed similar resolutions earlier (in 2011 and 2015 respectively), Ankara temporarily recalled its ambassadors - again Tuesday from Berlin, vowing retaliatory measures.

It threatened Washington with closure of NATO bases on its territory if Congress recognizes the Armenian genocide.

Heavy-handed pressure on Germany backfired. MPs refused to be bullied the way Erdogan treats his own parliamentarians.

Die Linke (The Left) party MP Gregor Gysi likely spoke for many others, saying “(t)he Bunderstag should not allow itself to be blackmailed by Turkish threats.”

The vote was originally scheduled a year ago to mark the 100th anniversary of what happened. 

Merkel got it postponed. She was absent during June 2 parliamentary voting, claiming prior commitments, wanting to avoid the embarrassment of MPs overwhelmingly going against her.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Religious Fundamentalist Zealotry in Israel

Religious Fundamentalist Zealotry in Israel

by Stephen Lendman

Israel abhors democratic values. It’s no fit place for Jews and non-Jews alike. Religious extremists believe non-Jews must either be enslaved, banished or exterminated.

Premeditated naked aggression on Gaza three times since December 2008 was called “religious war,” during which it was considered “immoral” to show mercy to enemies.

An IDF commander once said “God brought (Jews) back to this land, and now we need to fight to expel the Gentiles…interfering with our” way of life.

Is his widely accepted ideology any different from Nazis once saying “Jews should be exterminated like vermin.” Or Hitler promising endless war until “the complete annihilation of the Jews.”

Israeli zealots call themselves genetically superior, non-Jews pure evil. Killing them is OK. These type extremist views and others like them are commonplace in Israeli society.

Human rights champions are vilified in a nation affording rights to Jews alone - provided they obey religious law, including with regard to marriage.

Couples marrying outside the authority of an approved rabbi are considered criminals, subject to up to two years in prison and fined - the only developed nation where this type extremism exists.

On Wednesday, fascists and religious zealots dominating Israel’s Knesset rejected an amendment decriminalizing marriages, letting Jewish couples marry as freely as in Western societies, or live together as partners if they choose.

No government has the right to interfere in the private lives of their citizens and residents - provided they’re law abiding and do no harm.

Israel operates by its own extremist rules and standards, out of step with other developed countries. Prohibiting marriages outside of rabbinate authority stems from long ago outdated Ottoman era law.

In January 2014, criminalizing ones not in compliance became effective, despite polls showing Israelis overwhelmingly support marriage freedom, eliminating religious control altogether.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

US Preparing for War on Russia and China?

US Preparing for War on Russia and China?

by Stephen Lendman

Russian and Chinese sovereign independence are the main obstacles to unchallenged US global dominance.

America’s provocative military buildup close to their borders risks a likely inevitable confrontation - how serious the fullness of time will tell.

The risk of possible nuclear war should give world leaders serious concern about allying with America’s potentially catastrophic imperial agenda.

China may declare an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea to counter increasing US military provocations. Foreign aircraft and vessels could be interdicted for entering without authorization.

America and Japan refused to recognize Beijing’s East China Sea ADIZ, declared in 2013. It includes waters and territory claimed by other countries.

According to the Washington-based US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, “(a) Chinese ADIZ in the South China Sea could lead to tense mid-air encounters between US and Chinese aircraft”- the commission irresponsibly blaming Beijing for increasingly hostile US actions.

In February, US Pacific Command head Admiral Harry Harris criticized what he called “destabilizing and provocative” Beijing actions, saying America will ignore a South China Sea ADIZ if declared.

The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations states: “US military aircraft not intending to enter national airspace should not identify themselves or otherwise comply with ADIZ procedures established by other nations, unless the United States has specifically agreed to do so.”

Last week, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter warned China about what he called building “a great wall of self-isolation,” claiming regional US allies “are voicing concerns publicly and privately at the highest levels, regional meetings and global forums.”

America seeks a different Asia/Pacific future, one it intends to dominate, he didn’t explain, claiming it’s committed to upholding freedom of navigation and commerce - by enforcing Washington rules, he left unsaid.

On June 1, China’s ambassador to America Cui Tiankai asserted his country’s right to defend its territorial claims and maritime rights.

He accused Washington of escalating regional tensions, abusing the freedom of navigation principle, warning America’s imperial agenda “risk(s) the very militarization we all wish to avoid.”

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Carter’s hostile remarks “laid bare the stereotypical US thinking and hegemony,” maintaining a Cold War era mindset.

Beijing “has no fear of and will counter any actions that threaten and undermine (its) sovereignty and security,” she stressed, accusing Washington of increasing Asia/Pacific militarism, a plot to undermine her nation’s sovereign independence.

US hegemonic aims threaten Russia the same way. Increasingly encroaching on its land and sea borders risks an eventual confrontation.

Possible nuclear war should focus global leaders on prioritizing ways to prevent it, starting with rejecting America’s imperial agenda - the greatest threat to world peace.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Dalai Lama Hostile to US Imperial War Refugees

Dalai Lama Hostile to US Imperial War Refugees

by Stephen Lendman

The 14th Dalai Lama’s longstanding history of CIA collaboration shows he’s no saint-like human rights champion - earlier supporting the agency’s involvement in arming, training, funding and directing Tibetan fighters against China from his exiled Indian residence.

He’s as much a political operative as religious figure, supporting Western imperial interests - a refugee himself, opposed to others forced to flee from US war zones, notably Syria.

In an interview with German newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung, he said “too many” refugees seek asylum in Europe.

“Europe, for example Germany, cannot become an Arab country. Germany is Germany.” It’s taken in so many refugees, “it becomes difficult” to avoid it.

In 1959, he and thousands of his followers fled to India as refugees. They and their descendants remained for over half a century.

No matter. He said “refugees should only be admitted temporarily…from a moral point of view,” not applying to him and his followers.

His compassion for war zone victims is entirely pretense - hollow words, saying “(w)hen we look into the face of every single refugee, especially the children and women, we can feel their suffering.”

He wants them returned home, no matter the risk to their lives and welfare, mindless of why they fled in the first place - to find safe havens away from US war theaters, wanting to go home when fighting ends.

Article 33 of the 1951 Refugee Convention states “(n)o Contracting State shall expel or return…a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his (or her) life or freedom would be threatened on account of his (or her) race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”

The so-called non-refoulement principle is fundamental international law, binding on all nations. It’s illegal and immoral to return refugees and asylum seekers to war zones. 

The Dalai Lama wants them sent back to cauldrons of violence and chaos anyway, showing his indifference to human rights and welfare.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

NATO Needs Enemies to Justify Its Existence

NATO Needs Enemies to Justify Its Existence

by Stephen Lendman

NATO was always more about offense than defense, about America controlling the policies of Alliance members, increasing their numbers, pressuring them to stress militarism more than they’d chose otherwise - and selling them lots of US weapons.

When founded in April 1949, Soviet Russia was a North Atlantic Alliance enemy in name only, ravaged by WW II - needing years after Stalin’s April 1953 death to regain pre-war normality, peace essential to restore it.

Washington controls NATO, covering 75% of its budget, calling the shots, installing subservient Alliance officials to serve its agenda.

At a time when no US enemies exist, they’re invented to justify NATO’s existence - including Milosevic, bin Laden and the Taliban, Saddam, Gaddafi, Assad, Yemeni Houthis, Al-Shabaab in Somalia, and independent democratic leaders everywhere America doesn’t control.

Cold War II is much more intense than its earlier version, Putin bashed and denigrated shamelessly for not bowing to Washington’s will, for wanting multi-world polarity according to international rule of law principles.

Russia’s envoy to NATO, Alexandr Grushkko, understands how US-dominated NATO operates, its aims and ways its justifies its existence.

It pressured Europe to treat peaceful, good neighbor Russia as a major adversarial threat - at a time it seeks mutual cooperation among all nations, a world at peace, and nuclear disarmament, polar opposite America’s agenda.

Russian diplomacy can’t change US-led NATO’s rage for war, waging endless ones, spurning peace and stability, promoting American interests belligerently “from Greenland to the Caspian Sea, and from the Arctic Ocean to the Levant,” said Grushko.

“The question is where is the US and where is the Caspian Sea,” each distant from the other, Moscow not about to let it become a US-dominated NATO lake - while concentrating its own military strength within its borders, polar opposite America’s empire of bases.

Provoking Moscow with US-led NATO combat troops and warships near its borders, so-called missile defense systems entirely for offense, hyping nonexistent “Russian aggression,” denigrating its legitimacy, and falsely calling it America’s greatest threat risks East/West confrontation with super-weapons able to end life on earth.

Speaking in Warsaw on Tuesday, US-installed NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg hyped “the importance of collective security (and) NATO’s (so-called) essential role in continuing to keep the peace” while claiming a nonexistent “more assertive Russia intimidat(es) its neighbors and chang(es) borders by force.” 

Truth is polar opposite his willful Big Lies, bashing Putin, claiming he threatens continental security, ignoring his preeminent peacemaker role.

Instead of Europe seeking peaceful, cooperative relations with its important Russian neighbor, it lets Washington bully it into being an imperial tool - harming its welfare and security in the process.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Clinton and Sanders Camps in Talks for Party Unity

Clinton and Sanders Camps in Talks for Party Unity

by Stephen Lendman

A previous article called Clinton the most recklessly dangerous president aspirant in US history. Humanity’s fate is up for grabs with her finger on the nuclear trigger. 

She’s also damaged goods, vulnerable to indictment on federal racketeering charges, her Clinton Foundation a suspected criminal enterprise masquerading as a charitable NGO.

She’ll likely escape federal prosecution because of longstanding close ties to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and become Democrat party nominee in July. 

Her delegate lead is too great to overcome. Next Tuesday’s California primary should put her way over the top.

Reports indicate camps representing her and Sanders in talks for party unity. Earlier she said “(o)nce the primaries are over…we will begin talking in more detail about what we can do to unify the party.”

“Because as I've said many times, and Senator Sanders has said, we both are going to do everything we can to prevent Donald Trump from getting anywhere near the White House.”

“I will certainly do everything I can to unify the Democratic Party. Our campaigns have been reaching out to one another. We will continue to do that.”

On the one hand, Sanders vowed to continue contesting to become Democrat party nominee. On the other, he hinted at what’s ahead if he fails, saying “(w)hat happens the day after (if) it appears that I am not going to become the nominee, that’s subject for further discussion.”

Several times earlier he promised to support Clinton as party standard bearer if she’s nominated. Will he serve as her running mate if asked?

A previous article explained his popularity among young voters combined with most women for her would be a formidable challenge for Trump to overcome.

A Clinton/Sanders ticket would dispel the undeserved faith of his diehard supporters in his alleged populist advocacy, phony throughout his 30-year political career, voting 98% of the time with Democrats, supporting their deplorable agenda.

He’s more opportunist than populist. She represents pure evil. Partnering with her would irreparably taint him more than already - making him complicit in her high crimes.

After months of campaigning since last year, voters in November will get to choose between a billionaire demagogue and an unindicted criminal racketeer/war goddess/Wall Street tool.

If Sanders supports what he campaigned against, he’ll prove himself just another dirty politician - saying one thing, intending something entirely different, betraying his supporters, showing business as usual always wins.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Beijing May Declare Security Zone in South China Sea

Beijing May Declare Security Zone in South China Sea

by Stephen Lendman

So-called Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) imposition by any country involves protecting its national security interests.

Foreign aircraft entering it without authorization may be intercepted, ordered out, or forced down if refuse. In the case of the South China Sea, vessels could be interdicted for entering protected waters without permission.

US-generated tensions risk escalating dangerously. A previous article indicated China intends deploying nuclear-armed subs in Pacific Ocean waters for the first time - to counter America’s growing threat.

Unjustifiably claiming freedom of navigation rights, provocative US air and naval military patrols, along with joint exercises with Asian allies, ups the stakes for possible direct Sino/US confrontation.

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Beijing may declare “an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea, two years after it announced a similar one in the East China Sea, according to sources close to the People’s Liberation Army and a defence report.”

Timing depends on regional security concerns, notably increasing US hostile activities. According to an unnamed Beijing source, “(i)f the US military keeps making provocative moves to challenge China’s sovereignty in the region, it will give Beijing a good opportunity to declare an ADIZ in the South China Sea.”

Its Defense Ministry declared its sovereign right to impose it. Its 2013 East China Sea AZIZ includes waters and islands claimed by other regional countries.

Beijing considers America’s expanding Pacific military footprint the region’s greatest threat. Its Ministry of National Defense spokesman Yang Yujun urged Washington “to stop stirring up a storm in a teacup and stop sowing seeds of discord so as to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, which conforms to the common interests of all parties.”

Beijing wants provocative US air and sea-based surveillance activities stopped. Its Defense Ministry minced no words, calling “large-scale and frequent (US) close-in reconnaissance activities against China by US military vessels and aircraft” unacceptable close encounters, the “root cause” for its security concerns.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Photos Alleging Russian Airstrikes Killed Idlib Civilians Six Months Old

Photos Alleging Russian Airstrike Killed Idlib Civilians Six Months Old

by Stephen Lendman

Propaganda substitutes misinformation and Big Lies for hard truths. Repeated enough gets most people to believe it, especially when credible information is suppressed. 

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) operates as a mouthpiece for Western imperial interests.

A previous article said it accused Russia of killing 2,100 Syrian civilians since from last September through May, including 500 children and 300 women - citing no credible evidence supporting its spurious accusation. 

Yesterday, it claimed nonexistent Russian airstrikes killed 23 civilians in Idlib - in northwestern Syria near Turkey’s border. Photographic evidence cited was unrelated to the incident, used by Al Jazeera last November - at the time, irresponsibly blaming Russia for killing at least 44 civilians.

Since launching its anti-terrorism aerial campaign last September, Moscow was falsely blamed numerous times for bombing nonmilitary sites, killing civilians - when, in fact, its documented photographic and other evidence, ignored by Western governments and media, disprove falsified claims.

Billionaire George Soros is militantly anti-Russia. His so-called White Helmets group claims phony humanitarian credentials.

It serves Western imperial interests, its elements caught red-handed last September, fabricating nonexistent evidence of alleged Russian war crimes in Syria.

Its photo of a bleeding girl posted on Twitter, along with saying “Russia strike in Homs today. 33 civilians killed including 3 children and 1 @SyriaCivilDef volunteer” was taken on September 25 - five days before Moscow’s aerial campaign began.

Western media also use video evidence of Russian airstrikes on ISIS, other terrorist groups and their facilities, falsely claiming US warplanes conducted them.

It’s unclear if US-led coalition warplanes were responsible for the Monday Idlib incident. State Department spokesman admiral John Kirby refrained from automatically blaming Russia.

He was less than candid, saying “(w)e don’t have a great sense of complete knowledge here of who’s responsible. We’re going to continue (working with) the cessation of hostilities task force…and we’ll take it from there.”

Any evidence of US involvement will be suppressed. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov explained no combat missions were flown in Idlib province on the day of the attack. No evidence suggests otherwise.

Russia accused SOHR of falsely claiming its warplanes were involved in May 31 Idlib airstrikes, Reuters repeating the Big Lie without due diligence fact-checking, news consumers urged not to be duped by spurious reporting.

Separately in the last 24 hours, US warplanes killed at least 15 civilians in Manbij in Aleppo. In mid-May, area airstrikes killed scores, the incident falsely blamed on Syria.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Sergey Lavrov Rips Washington

Sergey Lavrov Rips Washington

by Stephen Lendman

Lavrov did it diplomatically. I won’t - my take on what he said and meant, along with my own no-holds-barred views.

Lavrov did bluntly say the so-called US-led coalition, meaning Washington almost entirely with a little help from its rogue partners, “is just going through the motions,” pretending to wage war on the terrorist scourge it supports.

Lavrov asked John Kerry why Washington isn’t bombing terrorists. It hasn’t tried stopping “oil smuggling into Turkey.”

Kerry’s response was duplicitous doubletalk - on the one hand, claiming the issue is being addressed when it isn’t. On the other, saying bombing terrorists risks harming (nonexistent) moderate rebels.

Lavrov wants this nonsense stopped, blasting Kerry for inventing reasons to wage war, avoid peaceful conflict resolution, and let Syrian civilians continue being slaughtered.

Washington and its so-called “coalition” partners began bombing Syria illegally in September 2014 - without Security Council or Damascus authorization, supporting ISIS and other terrorist groups, striking infrastructure and government sites almost exclusively.

Russia intends unilaterally bombing all terrorists groups not agreeing to ceasefire, so far delayed doing it. Washington asked for time to respond - a thinly veiled scheme to give ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups time to regroup, rearm and plan their next attacks and atrocities on Syrian towns and villages, with full US support and encouragement.

Heavily armed anti-Assad elements continue entering Syria daily through Turkey’s border, “clearly planning an offensive,” said Lavrov, Western and regional-supported aggression prohibited by international law and Security Council resolutions.

Endless war continues. “This circus has been going on” far too long, said Lavrov. Washington pretends to want peace while waging proxy war.

Lavrov said America is playing a dirty game, fooling no one. It wants all independent nations transformed into cauldrons of violence and chaos, prelude to making them US vassal states.

Wherever it shows up, mass slaughter, destruction and human misery follow. Russia is fed up with America’s imperial agenda.

The issue is what does it intend doing about it. The more dominoes falling under US control, the more isolated Russia becomes. 

Diplomacy aside, the time to challenge America’s dirty game is now. It won’t get easier later.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Fabricated Reports on Russian Airstrikes Killing Civilians in Syria

Fabricated Reports of Russian Airstrikes Killing Civilians in Syria

by Stephen Lendman

Since Russia’s anti-terrorist campaign began in Syria last September, it’s been falsely accused numerous times of striking hospitals, other nonmilitary sites and killing civilians.

It has documented photographic and other evidence disproving falsified claims, used to denigrate its vital mission, deserving universal support.

The UK-based pro-Western imperial mouthpiece Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) features propaganda, not credible information.

On Monday, it accused Russia of killing 2,100 Syrian civilians since last September, including 500 children and 300 women - citing no credible evidence supporting its spurious claim. 

On Tuesday, it was at it again, claiming (nonexistent) Russian airstrikes killed 23 civilians in Idlib city, including seven children, saying an area next to a hospital was attacked, indicating the death toll likely to rise.

Reuters repeated its Big Lie with no due diligence fact checking, accepting a notorious unreliable source as gospel.

Russia categorically denied conducting area airstrikes, Defense Ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov, saying “(n)o combat missions, let alone…airstrikes, (were) performed by the Russian Air Force in Idlib province.

Reuters cited Turkey, claiming 60 Idlib area civilian deaths and 200 others injured “carried out by Russian jets on a hospital and a mosque…”

A Turkish foreign ministry statement called on the international community to act swiftly against what it called “indefensible” Russian and Syrian crimes.

Ankara is allied with Washington, NATO, Saudi Arabia, Israel and other regional rogue states in actively supporting ISIS and other terrorist groups, waging endless aggression, wanting tyranny replacing Syrian sovereignty.

Konashenkov urged paying no attention to spurious anti-Russian propaganda, spread by SOHR, Reuters and other media scoundrels - substituting Big Lies for hard truths.

Russia “presented to the world the objective monitoring data, fully disproving” fabricated SOHR/Reuters accusations, said Konashenkov. “(N)either the (so-called) observatory nor the (news) agency even tried to listen…much less publish” a retraction.

Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov indicated its aerial operations will continue combating terrorists in Syria, delivering precision strikes on its forces and facilities, scrupulously avoiding civilian casualties.

Washington, Israel and their imperial allies consider them legitimate targets. International law calls them high crimes of war and against humanity.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Obama's War on Syria: Tragedy and High Crime

Obama’s War on Syria: Tragedy and High Crime

by Stephen Lendman

People living distant from war zones can’t imagine the horrors millions in them face - unsure each day if they’ll live or die, remain whole or be harmed by disabling injuries. 

Will surviving children be permanently traumatized? Will countless numbers perish for lack of essentials to life? 

Will conditions in Syria ever be normal again? America’s sordid history in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Ukraine, complicit with Israel against Palestine and elsewhere leaves little hope.

Syria is one of many US war theaters, one of history’s great crimes - half a million or more killed in over five years of conflict, half the population internally or externally displaced, the extent of chaos and human suffering incalculable. 

There’s nothing civil about Obama’s war, using ISIS and other imported death squads to do his dirty work.

Cessation of hostilities is farcical. Endless war rages. Peace talks were dead on arrival. Syria has no legitimate partner. Resuming negotiations will be no more successful than failed efforts up to now.

Obama didn’t wage war to quit. America wants Assad ousted, pro-Western puppet governance replacing him, Syrian sovereignty destroyed, the nation partitioned for easier control, its resources stolen, its people exploited.

Chief Saudi controlled High Negotiations Committee (HNC) negotiator Mohammed Alloush resigned - a known terrorist representing the ISIS-equivalent Jaysh al-Islam group, wanting Syria raped and destroyed.

According to Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov, his resignation shows “the opposition has no common platform and no common approach (on) how to conduct negotiations…”

It wants unconditional surrender to its demands, intending endless war until they’re met, assuring no prospects for peace. Intractable positions separate both sides.

Russia believing it has a peace partner in America is pure fantasy. On Sunday, its Foreign Ministry said Sergey Lavrov and John Kerry agreed by phone to work actively for conflict resolution - despite Washington aggressively pursuing war, disdaining peace.

Hundreds of US special forces deployed to northern Syria are covertly engaged in combat, part of America’s strategy to oust its popularly elected government.

Washington’s refusal to cooperate with Russia against terrorists shows Obama wants endless war, not peace, US imperial policy continuing unchecked under his successor - heading for what appears an inevitable showdown with Russia and China.

Turkey is a key US imperial partner, actively supporting ISIS and other anti-Assad terrorist groups.

Its Foreign Minister Melvut Cavusoglu proposed joint operations with America in northern Syria, excluding Kurdish YPG fighters - what he described as “a large operation involving significant forces,” including from Britain, France and Germany. 

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov denounced the scheme - calling it “a violation of the sovereignty of Syria and no justification gives right to this act.” If implemented, escalated war is certain.

Peace and stability defeat America’s agenda. No matter who succeeds Obama, endless wars will continue. Imperial madness threatens everyone.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.